Barack Obama - Census control

Last Updated : Sep 04, 2012

Summary

In February of 2009, the Obama administration required the director of the Census Bureau to report directly to the White House. Some Congressional leaders believed that this was done to ensure that former Senator Judd Gregg did not interfere with the census outcome. Senator Gregg had been placed in charge of the Department of Commerce which is the bureau that normally oversees the census.

Critics of the move asserted that there is no precedent for the Department of Commerce to be circumvented to have the census placed under political operatives at the White House. They noted that a census could be altered to politically favor one party over another.

Origin of the Census

Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution mandates that every 10 years a census be performed to determine the population.

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

The results of the census are used to allocate Congressional seats (congressional apportionment), electoral votes, and government program funding. The census is conducted by the Census Bureau, which falls under the Department of Commerce.

Movement of the Census to White House Authority

On February 5, 2009, CQ Politics reported the following:

The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.

Congressional and Media Response

Immediately, speculation was made that this was done to alleviate concerns voiced by the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and other groups who expressed displeasure with Obama's nominee for Commerce secretary, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said in a statement that Senator Greggs previous actions were troubling. A National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials spokesman made a similar statement to Politico.

Sen. Gregg's record of previously voting to abolish the Commerce Department and his attempts to block President Bill Clinton's efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 census raise troubling concerns.

Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd Gregg's record raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation's population.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said the following:

The United States Census should remain independent of politics; it should not be directed by political operatives working out of the White House.

Further questions at Press Conferences

At a press conference on February 6, 2009, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had the following exchange with reporters:

When asked if these concerns were the motivation for the change, a White House Spokesman stated the following.

From the first days of the transition the census has been a priority for the president, and a process he wanted to reevaluate. There is historic precedent for the director of the census, who works for the Commerce Secretary and the president, to work closely with White House senior management – given the number of decisions that will have to be put before the president. We plan to return to that model in this administration.

Prior Census Bureau Official Response

Bruce Chapman, director of the U.S. Census Bureau under President Reagan, explains the Republican objection and why the census is so important in his Discovery blog:

Everyone knows that it is possible to organize a decennial census in a way that benefits one party or another politically. One way to effectuate this otherwise unpalatable departure from the Census Bureau's 200-year history of non-partisanship is to put the Bureau administratively under direction of the politicos in the White House. In reality, that would be a sure invitation to cook the books on the highly consequential count of Americans.

The only reason the White House would want to be involved is in figuring out how to add more voting power to certain states and groups within states.

In response to the White House statement concerning the precedent that the director of the census works closely with the White House, Director Chapman added:

Simply put, there is no excuse for this idea. It is not true that the Census Bureau has ever been under the direct management of the White House, and for good reason. Even if angels were in charge of the executive mansion, if the nation's premier statistical agency were placed under White House direction, the danger to public trust would be enormous. The Decennial count is one of the few federal functions specifically described in the Constitution itself and must be operated above suspicion of politics.

Power flows from an accurate census count. Everyone involved for years has seen the count therefore as a sacred trust. It must not be polluted with even a semblance of presidential meddling.